Tag: recipe

A roast duck stuffed with chestnuts and apples is my “must-cook” for the holidays: this dish simply is Christmas to me. It was the Christmas feast of my childhood, and still I find there´s something so very festive about a whole bird enthroned in the center of the table. In Germany, roast duck usually comes with a bowl of red cabbage on […]

There is a moment each summer, right at the height of it, when you first realize it won´t last forever. When it comes to food, at least to me, that moment is marked by the appearance of the plum. For someone who grew up in Germany, plum cakes belong to late summer days like thunderstorms, […]

“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.” (A.A. Milne) It´s […]

April in Paris – I´ve been humming this melody for weeks, picturing green trees, picnics in parks and chestnuts in blossom, just like Ella Fitzgerald dreams about in that timeless rhapsody of spring. It´s been my tune of the month, an earworm surrounding me all the time, coming from the radio, the iPod, echoing in my head. We´ve already had some beautiful […]

What to cook for old friends who come for a visit and arrive in pouring rain? Not even Paris looks good with that kind of weather, or, as Hemingway put it (in ´A moveable feast´): “All of the sadness of the city came suddenly with the first cold rains of winter, and there were no more […]

This is one of my very favorite dishes: Sole à la normande, with a creamy shrimp and apple cider sauce. The combination may sound unusual, but the buttery tenderness of the fish, the nutty crevettes, that somewhat fruity, sweetish aftertaste of the sauce – all these amazing flavors come together just wonderfully. I love how this recipe reflects the two […]

Leave Paris by car and it won´t take long until you´ll find yourself in the middle of the French countryside and eventually, after an hour or so, reach the small village of Giverny, home to the painter Claude Monet for well over four decades. Until his death in 1926, here he found inspiration and calm to consecrate himself […]

This lemon tart is the underdressed sister of the lemon meringue tart that´s offered in any boulangerie/patissierie I know. Like baguette in the bread section and croissants in the viennoiserie, la tarte fine au citron is a must bake for every boulanger (baker man) who wants to climb the heights of patissier heaven. The white swirly […]